END HOME

Why were so many Spanish ships wrecked off the west coast of Ireland? Adapted from ‘Ireland and the Armada’, The Race to Rule. Ireland and Europe 1570-1700

Colourpoint Books, 1-89839-249-8, 28-31

A. A sixteenth century map of Ireland

similar to the maps used by the Spanish

B. Ireland as it is in reality

END HOME

C. Irish Armada wrecks, 1688

END HOME

D. Some of the Armada ships get ready to sail

Trouble before reaching Ireland

The Armada’s troubles began

at Calais.

When the English fireships

approached the Armada on 28

July 1688, the Spanish ships had

cut their anchors. Most ships

had at least one spare anchor,

but if a ship is being carried

towards land by an onshore

storm, such as the Armada

faced off Ireland in September,

it will drop anchor to avoid

shipwreck.

However, the ships no longer

had enough anchors! They were

unprepared for what was

waiting for them when they tried

to sail around Ireland to escape.

END HOME

The geography of Ireland

The Spanish thought Ireland look like the

map in Source A. They assumed that if you

sailed round the top of Ireland heading west,

you could turn south about ten miles past

Donegal.

In reality, if you did that, you would find Sligo

and Mayo in the way! With the wind

direction SW they could not get back out to

sea again.

The Armada’s fate

Ten of the nineteen wrecks were off Mayo,

Sligo and Donegal. Those Spaniards who did

make it ashore, found themselves robbed,

stripped, beaten and sometimes killed by the

local Irish people.

1. A galley was a ship which had oars and rowers. Study Source C. Which Armada wreck was a galley?

2. List the five largest Armada wrecks.

3. In what ways was the information in Source A unreliable?

4. How useful is Source A in helping us to understand why so many Spanish ships were lost around the Irish coast?

END HOME

I passed many Spaniards

completely naked without any

clothes at all, shivering with the

cold that was very severe. The

night came upon me in this dreary

place and I lay down on some

rushes ... a gentleman tame up to

me, naked, a very gentle youth.

He was so frightened that he

could not speak, not even to tell

me who he was.

E. Francisco de Cuellar

At daybreak I began to go

towards a monastery but found it

torn down, the church and holy

images burnt and twelve

Spaniards hanged within the

Church by English Protestants who

went about looking for us in order

to kill all those who had escaped

the hazard of the sea. I found

nobody there except the

Spaniards dangling Spaniard from

the iron grills in the church

windows ... I went out very

quickly.

F. Francisco de Cuellar5 . Sources E and F were written by a Spaniard therefore they must be unreliable.Explain why you agree or disagree with this.

END HOME

The GironaThe most famous Armada wreck was that of

the Girona. The Girona had managed to find refuge at Killybegs in Donegal, and had been joined there by the crew of two wrecked ships - Santa Maria Encoronada and Duquessa Santa Ana.

The Girona’s captain decided to over-winter in Scotland and was heading east along the North Antrim coast when his ship was wrecked on 28 October at Lacada Point near the Giant's Causeway. Of the 1300 on board five survived.

In 1967 the wreckage of the Girona was located and divers salvaged hundreds of artefacts including cannon, an anchor, gold chains and jewellery. The ship itself had completely disappeared. The Girona treasure is now in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.The end of the war

The war between England and Spain continued after 1588, but the Armada was its climax. In 1598 Philip II died and in 1603 Elizabeth I died. Her successor, James I made peace with Spain in 1604. Song: The Spanish

Armada

6 . Of what use is it for an historian to have pictures of the wrecked ship Girona and its contents?

END HOME

G. Ordnance (weapons) from the Girona. The large canon is a bronze half-baker; the smaller one is a bronze esmeril (swivel gun) containing a breech block. Around them are bronze breech blocks and different sizes of stone and iron shot. H. Silk tassel from La Trinidad

Valencera

BACK TO TEXT

END HOME

‘The Spanish Armada’ Composed by

Shaun Davey Granuaile, Tara Music Company Ltd, 1985, Tara CD 3071;

sung by Rita Connolly The Spanish ArmadaWas blown off its courseFar to the north west of Rockall

Medina SidoniaHe knew what would befallThose who closed with a lee shore

Wounded in CalaisAnd pounded at GravelinesLaid over in the Atlantic

Raised upon mountainsAnd sunken in valleysSpanish galleons run for shelter

What say your pilotsOn their high and lofty castlesCast among uncharted soundings

The sea bed risesThrows foam up to heavenAnd cables they break asunder

There is no handholdIn thundering waterNor any means of rescue

Now Spanish goldSlips down through the fathomsSo deep to lie forever

And silk and treasureRoll in a sandstormInto the shallows and bays of Mayo

A drowned Spanish armyInvades unhappy ConnaughtAnd Fitzwilliam cries for reinforcements

The English horsemenThey ride in the distanceAnd the Irish pick for the salvage

I wish I had neverBeen a witnessTo such savage scenes amidst the spoils

They cut down flowersThat could have been plantedAnd blossomed on less barren soil

BACK TO TEXT

END HOME

END HOME